{"id":12795,"date":"2024-06-27T14:17:53","date_gmt":"2024-06-27T14:17:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.naylor.com\/associationadviser\/?p=12795"},"modified":"2024-06-27T14:17:53","modified_gmt":"2024-06-27T14:17:53","slug":"the-three-stewardship-imperatives-of-fit-for-purpose-association-boards-part-iii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.naylor.com\/associationadviser\/the-three-stewardship-imperatives-of-fit-for-purpose-association-boards-part-iii\/","title":{"rendered":"The Three Stewardship Imperatives of Fit-for-Purpose Association Boards: Part III"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUTHOR’S ATTESTATION: This article was written entirely by Jeff De Cagna AIMP FRSA FASAE, a human author, without using generative AI.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As of this article\u2019s publication date (6\/27\/24), there are 2013 days<\/strong> remaining in The Turbulent Twenties, and 188 days<\/strong> until this decade\u2019s midpoint on January 1, 2025.<\/em><\/p>\n

With these two overlapping time frames becoming inexorably shorter<\/em><\/strong>\u2014<\/em><\/strong>and the impact of myriad social, technological, economic, environmental, and political [STEEP] factors and forces growing in intensity<\/em><\/strong>\u2014<\/em><\/strong>association boards must move immediately to become fit for purpose.<\/em><\/strong> To inspire our community\u2019s most senior decision-makers to act with intention and meet this increasingly urgent challenge, this three-part series<\/strong><\/a> of columns<\/strong><\/a> is exploring the foundational imperatives association boards must adopt right away to build new capacity and confidence as they confront the powerful dynamics already shaping their associations\u2019 futures for both better and worse.<\/p>\n

The Wayfinding of Stewardship<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In Part I<\/strong><\/a> of this series, I provided my definition of stewardship for fit-for-purpose association boards: the shared commitment to leave the systems for which they are responsible better than how they found them for the benefit of stakeholders and successors.<\/em><\/strong> In addition, I explained the three core elements of stewardship\u2014agency, vulnerability, and wayfinding. As a reminder, this is what I wrote in Part I about wayfinding in stewardship:<\/p>\n

Navigating this <\/em>turbulent decade\u2019s next 2000+ days<\/em>\u2014<\/em>not to mention The Threatening Thirties ahead<\/em>\u2014<\/em>will require association boards to find their way without a reliable map. Boards cannot control the futures facing their organizations, nor can they \u201cfuture-proof\u201d their way out of them. Instead, boards must pursue ongoing discovery and embrace serendipity by remaining vigilant for emerging possibilities to shape different and better futures.<\/em><\/p>\n

This column will explore anticipation as resilience, which is the third stewardship imperative, and its connection to the core element of wayfinding.<\/p>\n

Imperative #3: Anticipation as Resilience<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The third stewardship imperative for fit-for-purpose boards is to develop a consistent and robust capacity for anticipation to build more resilient organizations for the long term.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

For the remainder of The Turbulent Twenties and beyond, associations should expect to operate in what futurist Jamais Cascio characterizes as a BANI world. Cascio first proposed BANI (brittle, anxious, non-linear, and incomprehensible) in 2018 as an alternative to the better-known and widely-adopted VUCA framework (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) for making sense of shifting global dynamics. As Cascio wrote in a 2020 essay<\/strong><\/a>, \u201c[u]sing \u2018VUCA\u2019 to describe reality provides diminishing insight; declaring a situation or a system to be volatile or ambiguous tells us nothing new.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cascio\u2019s BANI framework is an invaluable resource for fit-for-purpose association boards to use as they seek to fulfill the anticipation as resilience stewardship imperative. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic\u2019s worst days and every day since, association decision-makers have dealt directly with the inherent brittleness of the myriad societal systems to which their organizations contribute, and for which have some measure of responsibility. Moreover, every recent association board director\/officer possesses a hard-earned visceral understanding of the anxiety they and their stakeholders continue to experience in a relentless context of crisis. These dynamics represent direct threats to both the present and future stability of associations and the fields they serve.<\/p>\n

The dynamics of non-linearity and incomprehensibility require fit-for-purpose boards to accept wayfinding over certainty. In a non-linear world, association decision-makers must think and act beyond the complacency-inducing orthodoxies of relevance to discover more adaptive and purposeful actions with the potential to create greater resilience for their organizations and stakeholders\/successors over the long term. Incomprehensible technologies such as artificial intelligence demand deep reflection, intentional learning, and ethical decision-making to anticipate and push back against the ever-present consequences of dehumanization, exploitation, and other forms of harm. Fit-for-purpose association boards exercise care to ensure that optimism for the future does not overwhelm the clear-eyed recognition that a BANI world makes every best-case outcome far more difficult to realize.<\/p>\n

Making the Connection to Fit-for-Purpose Core Convictions and Habits of Mind<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In three articles published in 2023, I offered six core convictions<\/strong><\/a> and six habits<\/strong><\/a> of mind<\/strong><\/a> for fit-for-purpose association boards. The stewardship imperative of anticipation as resilience connects directly with the final two core convictions and habits of mind:<\/p>\n